I enjoyed the story completely. Based on a manga, this talks about two people are forced to room together, and slowly fall in love. Though it's cliche as it is, I think it handles itself very well. Do I think the last couple of episodes were necessary? Not completely, but I did enjoy them noneless. It's’ not a long drama, with only 17 episodes, but sometimes you wish to see more.
Acting/Casting: 10.0
As far as casting goes, this one is very well casted in the female lead as well as the male lead. Both could portray the emotions needed in the circumstances. I think this drama especially showed Fukuhara Haruka to play the complicated emotions of masking someone’s sadness in the eyes of others until alone. She did a wonderful job, and I don’t think I could find someone else to play her as well as she did.
Music: 9.0
The music matched well with the drama or rather the lack of music at points. It set the mood for the future parts of the episodes, and made some scenes funner, at least for me. Though some of the tones where just a little high pitched for me, but that is completely objective.
Rewatch Value: 8.5
I think like every teen drama this is completely one of those one that most people decided if they like or not in order to rewatch. Unlike some that you may love on the first time, but hate the second, this one can withstand years of viewing. So for this the rewatch value I think would be high as compared to other teen dramas.
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This review may contain spoilers
Youthful, Wholesome, and Endearingly Campy
Good Morning Call embraces every classic trope of a Japanese high-school rom-com — the awkwardness, the overreactions, the innocent longing — and somehow turns it into something genuinely sweet. It’s undeniably campy, occasionally ridiculous, and absolutely leaning into its tween-friendly tone… but that’s also where its charm lies.The female lead is the heart of the show. She’s bright, kind, earnest to a fault — the kind of girl who feels everything deeply and expresses it without filters. Her goofiness is often exaggerated for humor, and sometimes the drama pushes it too far (even leaning into full caricature), but beneath all the silliness is a sincere, soft-hearted character trying her best to navigate first love without losing herself.
Opposite her is the male lead, whose frosty exterior and self-centered habits make him hard to like at first. He’s cold, awkward, and hopeless at emotional expression — not cruel, just reserved and overly pragmatic in a way that comes off harsher than he means. The show doesn’t excuse his behavior, nor does it pretend it’s ideal; instead, it slowly unravels the truth that he’s clumsy in his own way… a typical teenage boy painfully afraid to be vulnerable and quietly learning how to care.
Second-male lead syndrome was nearly unavoidable, because Daichi is so kind, gentle, and consistently thoughtful toward Nao. His warmth is the calm, steady counterpoint to the Uehara’s prickly pride, and it’s hard not to wonder what if every time he shows up. Their connection feels safe in a way the main pairing never does. And the same can be said for the ramen-shop boy Itchan in the second half. He brings another wave of that straightforward, quietly attentive energy that the male lead just does not have on tap.
But in a sense, that’s part of the charm of this drama. What does work beautifully for the main couple is how they change each other. Her warmth and passion draws him out; his logic and steadiness gives her a place to grow. Their dynamic is messy, young, and unpolished — exactly as high-school love should be. The missteps and immaturities are part of the point, and the small ways they soften for one another make the journey surprisingly sweet.
Chemistry isn’t always about the safest match — sometimes it’s about stumbling, misunderstanding, and growing side by side. And as much as Daichi sets the bar with his quiet devotion, I still understood why her heart went where it did. Though, let’s be REAL… without Daichi acting as the emotional shock absorber half the time, those two might never have figured it out. Uehara’s pride nearly sank the ship more than once. 🤷🏼♀️
It’s cute. It’s wholesome. It’s very, very high school. And despite all its camp, there’s real heart tucked between the exaggerated reactions and the teenage melodrama.
Not a perfect series, but definitely a charming one.
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Good potential, used badly.
I regret I didn't appreciate this drama, but it has completely disappointed me, because initially the plot intrigued me a lot and I think it had potential, but unfortunately it was not used to its full advantage.Let’s start with the fact that I didn't like most of the characters:
-Nao is absolutely fond of Uehara, always with her head in the clouds that can't notice how toxic their relationship is. Extremely sentimental about everything, exaggerated in reactions, dependent on her boyfriend and always careless.
-on Uehara I don’t even know what to say. Initially I thought he was just a very introverted and reserved person who seems cold on the surface (and being so I understood his character), when in reality even with his friends, relatives and, especially with his girlfriend, he continues to have a detached, cold and (almost) superior attitude. In the relationship he often has toxic attitudes, cuts out Nao from certain situations and almost never communicates. I would call him the typical "perfect guy" that everyone would like to have, but then has a bad temper, simply justified for being too handsome.
-Daichi despite being much sweeter and kinder than Uehara, I still didn’t personally like him (and I say this as a fan of Dori Sakurada). In short I can say that I found him a little too insistent and possessive towards Nao (although I can still accept his jealousy as long-time friend of the girl, considered almost a sister).
-Issei was my favorite. Always respectful of Nao and jealous within the limits of normality. He was always worried that Uehara would make her feel better, instead of wanting to separate them. He has always treated the FL as part of his family and you can see that he cares a lot for her, not just romantically.
The story, in my opinion, could be developed in many less episodes, so as not to make the view so boring. After the first few episodes I got tired more and more, until I couldn't wait to finish the last episode as soon as possible. Despite this there were nice and funny moments, which made the scenes lighter, but beyond that there is not much substance IN MY OPINION.
The happy ending seemed a bit "forced" and rushed, as if all the problems appeared in the previous 16 episodes have been resolved all at once.
I should mention that I found the acting quite poor.
Also I know that this drama is adapter from a manga of the '00, but I can't say that I have appreciated or watched with indifference certain scenes where male characters insistently harassed girls without their permission (for example I remember the scene where Nao is in the hospital and meets Yuu for the first time). I know absolutely that these behaviors should NEVER be done, but I say this because I read comments from people who justified these actions only because they're from a story written about twenty years ago.
Even if I didn't appreciate the first season, I think I'm still gonna give a chance to the second one.
I wouldn't rewatch this drama and I don't feel to recommend it, but of course this, as I repeat, is only MY OPINION.
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A Great Drama, Especially If You're Starting Out!
It's been over two years since I first watched this show, and it remains one of my favorite shows I've ever watched. It was the first drama I tried and I fell in love straight away. I thought the initial set-up— Uehara and Nao being tricked into renting the same apartment and thus being forced to live together— was campy and funny, and it set up for some great humor as the show went on. The situation was just absurd enough to be funny, but handled very well throughout the story.I liked Nao a lot as a main character, though sometimes her passiveness and her lack of communication frustrated me. Still, as a teenage girl entering into her first relationship, it was realistic and I was always on her side. And even though Uehara wasn't my favorite of her potential love interests, he was a really good character to follow. I enjoyed him more and more as we got to know him and his own life situation over the course of the series.
I liked Nao's friends a lot, as well! Marina was funny as hell, and Mitchan was sweet and funny. Their relationship was a cute side plot.
I did end up liking both of the secondary love interests more than the main love interest. I especially loved Daichi— that scene where he hugged Nao in the rain grabbed me by the heart and made me almost cry! I wanted her to just be with him so badly. Issei was also a really great love interest, and I appreciated how different he was from both Uehara and Daichi. It would have been really easy to make him a Daichi 2.0, but he stood on his own and would have been well-suited for Nao, I think.
I have such fond memories from watching this show. Specifically, coming home late at night from work and thinking, "At least I have time to watch Good Morning Call before bed!!" It was truly a bright spot in my daily life as I watched, and I will definitely be watching again.
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But then why do I like this drama and why am I still watching it after 4 years of release? What's my reason to give this drama a good rating? Well, my answer is very simple... it's funny.
The reason I love this drama is that it always make my laugh even though I have watched it at least 10 times. The story and the characters are so bad that they make me laugh. This drama always makes me feel very cringey and ashamed, but would it be a good drama if it didn't evoke any emotion in me. NO. This drama might not be the best and it actually is unbelievable awful, but somehow it's still enjoyable. This is the drama I watch when I don't really have time to watch any other dramas because I'm doing something else at the same time so it spins in the background and I can laugh at its stupid scenes while cleaning or cooking.
There's also one thing that attracts me, Sakurada's character Daichi. I'm so obsessed with this character who is too friendly and thoughtful to others. He is the childhood friend who has fallen in love with the protagonist since he was a child, but has only received friendship. I feel so bad for him in every episode and that's why I just wanna protect him at all costs. He just deserves so much better!
Also I have to mention that the acting is good. Having both Sakurada Dori and Fukuhara Haruka in this drama is a really good bet because they make this drama twice as good as it really is. Their acting together is delightful to watch.
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ML is very cold it was hard to get past that
8/10 is my rating. This is a 2016/2017 Japanese television drama spanning 2 seasons and 27 episodes (17 in the 1st season and 10 in the second season).Each episode is about 48 minutes long.
Nao Yoshikawa (Haruka Fukuhara) is a teenage girl who is allowed to rent and stay in her own apartment so she can finish up school in the city. She rents a, too good to be true, apartment only to find out that she has been scammed. Another teenager, Hisashi Uehara (Shunya Shiraisha) has been rented the same apartment and both think the apartment is theirs. They quickly realize what has happened and that neither can afford the apartment on their own so they agree to share. Hisashi is the school heartthrob and has all kinds of conditions – pretty much pretend you don't know me at school. They also have to hide their living arrangements from basically everyone. Over time they develop feelings for each other.
Spoiler 🚨 I liked this but was really disappointed that the male lead's character never really showed an evolution or a reveal that this gruff, arrogant exterior was only a front. It still felt like, even at the end, an unbalanced love. Despite that I did still really like it. It's just it felt like there were so many other better choices in life journey partner she could have made. I know those kind of relationships can work in reality (in a sense) but the one who loves more always winds up, through time, carrying just a tiny bit of heartbreak. So that was a bit disappointing. I wanted to see him madly in love with her and just never really got that.
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Very Immature/characters overact on a big scale
This review is being written after 2 attempts at watching this series. In truth I forgot about it. It popped up again so I was like ‘hmm, let’s give a shot.” After 5 minutes I realized why I didn’t finish it the first time. From a mature persons perspective it’s terrible. From a teen perspective it may be cute. But alas, I’m not a teen and found it to be a train wreck. It was like one of those Disney teen shows, where teens are unsupervised in a home, the characters overreact and assume things out of thin air and also do ridiculous things that have you (the mature person) questioning the persons mental competency (like should she be left alone without supervision.)While the overall concept/plot of the series was great the presentation of it left something to be desired. I made it through about 4 episodes before skipping to the end (TWICE).
Big fail for me!!!
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Simple but cute.
I figure I’ll leave a review:GMC is a cute show if you’re into predictable romance tropes and goofy over the top situations. It's perfect inspiration for your secret Tumblr roleplay OC; the one you’re too shy of putting out there because it’s a Mary-Sue. We all have that one Mary-Sue OC.
There are a lot of critique points regarding the complete imbalance in affection between the two leads, but that comes back to predictable romance tropes where one is a cold, brooding mystery with a tragic past and the other is an innocent bean who is sunshine and rainbows. The “I can fix him” type of scenario. It's really up to each individual person how they feel about the male lead's characteristics/portrayal, and the female lead's desperation for his affection, and how said male lead treats the female lead. It can be really unfortunate and bordering on emotional abuse.
However, the storyline itself isn’t groundbreaking or unique. It's straightforward. The characters are likeable. Even the unlikeable ones have their redeeming points.
So, if you want a typical high school TV romance with two characters who went from hate to love, this would be for you.
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You've seen it before. Solid B, maybe B-
It's not a new concept but they do it pretty well. Do not act like the leads. In real life no one enjoys people who act like this. There is cool sexy aloof and there is the 'i ate paint as a child' aloof and i never figured out which the ML was. I learned to love the FL. She grew on me and i was happy to see her develop into something that was not a parody. But good god the beginning...so annoying. Maybe i was depressed and had to much free time or something. By the time season two came out i was done. I have to say though in the few episodes i did watch Nao seemed to have grown up a lot.Was this review helpful to you?
Pretty dry...
I watched this quite a few years ago, so take this with a grain of salt.I really had to push myself to finish this show. It's your classic boy and girl live together and date but doesn't tell anyone. It's not very special. Personally, I watched for the character interactions since the plot was pretty empty, but even then it got boring. I think the only thing I really enjoyed was Uehara's family subplot.
Looking back, I think the love was pretty toxic. Uehara is a douche to Nao, but Nao always remained positive. When I watched this, I was very impressionable and this romance has definitely impacted how I act. I absorbed Nao's personality because I thought it was cute how she always gave to people and made them happy, but I realise it's not cute as Nao caused many problems in the show.
Overall, watch this if you have nothing else to watch.
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